Welkete – three hours away from the capital inside the Gurage Zone, in the Southern Regional State is a booming town.

“These are hard times for many of us and we are barely pulling through,” a 63-year-old woman Almaz Tadesse said in a sobering voice echoed by many of her neighbors as she joined a line of people to collect perishable food inside the factory of Heineken in Kilinto.

Some are street kids trying to survive on the streets of the capital, but many are laid-off hotel and other workers who have hit a wall in the midst of the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic that has devastated the local economy.

With an Ethiopian population that is more than 70 percent youthful and with fast growing spending power, there is increasing fear that much of Ethiopia Would be prey to the growing influence of tobacco. This comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) highlights a growing phenomenon among a youthful smoking population making this year’s World No Tobacco Day a sombre moment.

An hour away from the City of Bishoftu known for its beach side scenery and still within the proximity of the capital, the City of Adama is a sizzling society of entrepreneurs.

In the village of Mesrake not far from the City of Debre Tsege, overshadowed by the monasteries of Debre Libanos not far away and a full-fledged hospital in the City of Fiche, the city’s lone public clinic has been busy with a growing interest from parents to vaccinate their young children.

Up on top of Entoto Mountain, in the outskirts of the capital, Geresu Gebela, a 68 year old security guard is a humbling man with many stories to tell. If his life is hard, he is not showing it.

Schools all over the country have closed their doors in response to COVID-19 pandemic, leaving parents and caregivers scrambling to find daily activities for their children. Before that, when things were normal, an activity that became commonplace among kids of all ages was spending their weekends at game zones.

At the end of 2019, a pandemic occurred that devastated the world. COVID-19 has so far infected more than three million people around the globe.

The long lent fasting, which lasted for about two months, came to an end with the celebration of Easter. The couple of months that follow are filled with weddings and huge gatherings for various types of celebrations.